COSTUMING THE SHAKESPEAREAN STAGE: VISUAL CODES OF REPRESENTATION IN EARLY MODERN THEATRE AND CULTURE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Robert I. Lublin, A.M. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2003 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Thomas Postlewait, Adviser Associate Professor Christopher Highley _________________________ Adviser Associate Professor Alan Woods Theatre Graduate Program Copyright by Robert I. Lublin 2003 ABSTRACT This dissertation provides a two-part study: (1) an investigation of the visual codes governing clothing in early modern England, (2) an examination of the manner in which costumes were employed in the various theatrical venues of the period. Crucial to both of these considerations is an analysis of the social, economic, and political factors that influenced the clothing and costuming practices in English society. In early modern England, clothing possessed the ability to define a person’s identity and locate his or her position within multiple, overlapping cultural categories. The apparel a person wore established one’s sex, rank, occupation, nationality, and even religion. Taken together, one’s clothing served to produce an individual as a member and constituent of the body politic. This dissertation has five chapters. The first establishes the visual codes governing clothing that maintained in early modern England. Looking at royal proclamations, paintings, woodcuts, plays, historical accounts, sermons, and legal documents, I piece together the means by which individuals were visually understood at the time. This information contributes to how theatre was experienced. For instance, looking at both the extensive sumptuary legislation passed by Queen Elizabeth and the evidence from the drama, I argue that actors on the London ii professional stages regularly wore costumes that visually asserted the social class of their characters to a high degree of specificity. Chapter two examines the costumes employed in court masques. I argue that the visual presentation of the courtier-masquers had political implications that challenge current understandings of the elite entertainment. Chapter three explores the various ways that costumes were used by the professional theatre companies. Chapter four pursues an in-depth analysis of a single play, Middleton’s A Game at Chess, to consider the site specific, historically contingent manner in which costumes were employed at the time. Chapter five elucidates the function that apparel served in the annual Lord Mayor’s Shows in London. This study of the visual codes employed in production serves as an analysis of the society that established its particular ways of dressing and seeing. “Costuming the Shakespearean Stage” articulates the complex manner in which costumes and apparel informed the substance, the staging, and the reception of performance in early modern England. iii Dedicated to my family iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Thomas Postlewait, for his guidance during the writing of this work and his mentorship throughout my time at OSU. His recommendations inform both the structure and the substance of this dissertation, and I feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to study for three years with an advisor who is so dedicated to his graduate students. Thanks also to Christopher Highley and Alan Woods who both responded to chapters during the writing process and contributed significantly to the development of my argument and to the clarity of its articulation. I would also like to acknowledge the debt I owe to Lynn Morrow, my Theatre professor at Albright College, who taught me how to write and set me down the path that ultimately led to the successful completion of this dissertation. Thanks to Lee Bleyer, William Heller, Brett Clifton, and Michael Jaros for their years of close friendship and support. And last, I want to express my most sincere gratitude to my family. Their love and encouragement has played as large a role in the writing of this dissertation as any effort I put forward. I include in this a thank you to Karie Kirkpatrick whose support and love proved even more important to the completion of this work than the help she provided with the bibliography. v VITA January 5, 1971 ........................................ Born – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1993 .......................................................... A.B. Albright College 1995 .......................................................... M.A. Villanova University 1997 .......................................................... A.M. Brown University 1998–1999 ................................................ Adjunct Instructor of Theatre and English, Bristol Community College 1998–1999 ................................................ Adjunct Instructor of English, Salve Regina University 2001 .......................................................... Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University 2003 ...........................................................Certificate of Specialist in Medieval and Renaissance Studies PUBLICATIONS 1. Lublin, Robert. “Performance Review of and…and…and by Chris Dickman, Ensemble Actors’ Theatre, Madlab Theatre, Columbus, Ohio. 16–18 November 2001.” Theatre Journal 54.3 (2002): 494–6. 2. Lublin, Robert. “Unpublished Letters From Charles and Ellen Kean’s Final American Tour.” Theatre Notebook 55.2 (2001): 80–2. 3. Lublin, Robert. “Differing Dramatic Dynamics in the Stage and Screen Versions of Glengarry Glen Ross.” American Drama 10.1 (2001): 38–55. vi 4. Lublin, Robert. “Book Review of Robert B. Graves’ Lighting the Shakespearean Stage, 1567–1642.” Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1999. Appears in Theatre Survey 42.1 (2001): 89–91. 5. Lublin, Robert. “Book Review of Michal Kobialka’s Of Borders and Thresholds: Theatre History, Practice, and Theory.” Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1999. Appears in Theatre Studies 45 (2001): 96–99. 6. “Cadences of Cruelty: Artaud’s Discursive Performance.” Theatre Symposium 8 (2000): 62–72. 7. “Edward Bond’s ‘Irresponsibly Optimistic’ Preface to Saved.” Theatre Southwest 27 (1999): 1–8. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Theatre Minor Field: Medieval and Renaissance Studies vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .........................................................................................................................ii Dedication ....................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................v Vita ...............................................................................................................................vi List of Images ..............................................................................................................ix Chapters: Introduction ...................................................................................................................1 1. Visual Codes of Representation ......................................................................10 2. Stuart Masques ................................................................................................53 3. Playwrights and Professional Companies .......................................................89 4. Middleton’s A Game at Chess ......................................................................123 5. The Lord Mayor’s Show ...............................................................................152 Conclusion ................................................................................................................183 Endnotes ....................................................................................................................187 Appendix A ...............................................................................................................210 Appendix B ...............................................................................................................215 Bibliography .............................................................................................................218 viii LIST OF IMAGES Image Page 1 Peacham drawing ..............................................................................................7 2 A Generalized Elizabethan Gentleman ...........................................................14 3 Breeches ..........................................................................................................16 4 A Generalized Elizabethan Lady ....................................................................20 5 Farthingales …………………….....................................................................23 6 A Courtier and a Countryman .........................................................................32 7 1597 Sumptuary proclamation .....................................................................36-7 8 Anti-Protestant illustration ..............................................................................52 9 Illustration from Masque of Queens ...............................................................65 10 Drawing from Temple of Love ........................................................................66 11 Drawing from Chlorida ..................................................................................67 12 Title-page of A Game at Chess, Q1 ..............................................................125